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Alternative to surgical implants of frozen semen

There is an alternative to surgical implants being used/tested by two Theriogenologists at a Veterinary college in the midwest. It is a Vaginal AI done with a catheter that has an inflatable cuff which seals the vagina to prevent leakage. The thawed semen is injected through the catheter and then 6 ml of the same extender in the semen is injected behind the semen. This forces the semen well into the uterus to reach the ovaducts much like an implant without the need for surgery. The catheter is left inflated for 15 minutes to simulate a natural tie. The bitch is manually stimulated during the entire procedure to induce contractions to help move the semen as well. They have done the procedure 8 times with frozen semen producing 7 litters. The one failure involved very poor semen. They performed this procedure for me using chilled semen 6 months ago resulting in a litter of 10 puppies. You must of coarse do progesterone testing to pinpoint the surge and ovulation. Smears and vaginoscopies were also done to confirm time to inseminate. It is a simple procedure and is cheaper and safer to do. Unlike a transcervical insemination(TCI) which just deposits the semen at the cervix this procedure moves the semen well into the uterus. In a natural tie the sperm is produced first and then a larger volume of prostatic fluid is ejaculated forcing the sperm into the uterus. This procedure does the same thing. We had to inseminte the chilled semen a day early due to the male running a field trial. The semen was collected on a Thursday and inseminated 24 hours later although the eggs were not ready until Saturday. These two Vets will publish their results after twenty frozen vaginal inseminations are done. With Kent Law 4 hours away they do not get much demand for this. I just had them freeze some semen and will use it to help them finish their research. I can provide written reports from the procedure to those interested.

There is an alternative to surgical implants being used/tested by two Theriogenologists at a Veterinary college in the midwest. It is a Vaginal AI done with a catheter that has an inflatable cuff which seals the vagina to prevent leakage. The thawed semen is injected through the catheter and then 6 ml of the same extender in the semen is injected behind the semen. This forces the semen well into the uterus to reach the ovaducts much like an implant without the need for surgery. The catheter is left inflated for 15 minutes to simulate a natural tie. The bitch is manually stimulated during the entire procedure to induce contractions to help move the semen as well. They have done the procedure 8 times with frozen semen producing 7 litters. The one failure involved very poor semen. They performed this procedure for me using chilled semen 6 months ago resulting in a litter of 10 puppies. You must of coarse do progesterone testing to pinpoint the surge and ovulation. Smears and vaginoscopies were also done to confirm time to inseminate. It is a simple procedure and is cheaper and safer to do. Unlike a transcervical insemination(TCI) which just deposits the semen at the cervix this procedure moves the semen well into the uterus. In a natural tie the sperm is produced first and then a larger volume of prostatic fluid is ejaculated forcing the sperm into the uterus. This procedure does the same thing. We had to inseminte the chilled semen a day early due to the male running a field trial. The semen was collected on a Thursday and inseminated 24 hours later although the eggs were not ready until Saturday. These two Vets will publish their results after twenty frozen vaginal inseminations are done. With Kent Law 4 hours away they do not get much demand for this. I just had them freeze some semen and will use it to help them finish their research. I can provide written reports from the procedure to those interested.

My vet is one of the pioneers of using TCI here (it's very common in Europe) and has close to 100 percent success rate. All of the TCIs he's done on my females have taken and produced healthy litters and they've ranged from frozen, to fresh chilled to side by side. I know some vocal opponents of this procedure in my breed, but I think that's because the practitioner has to be very experienced and comfortable with it, and not that many are around here anyway. Using a TCI for breeding is less expensive but more important, it's far less invasive for the bitch--no anesthesia, sedation or cutting her open.

Angie: I failed to elaborate on that. You are correct that the TCI places the semen in the uterus but it does so blindly as the rigid endoscope does not enter the uterus. The catheter does but does not place the semen in each uterine horn at the oviducts. If the semen is of poor quality it may not reach the ends of both uterine horns in its short 12 hour approx. life which can result in a smaller litter or no litter. Kent Law has done over 10,000 surgical implants and rarely does TCI's as he gets better results and larger litters with surgical implants placed precisely where needed. Also in a TCI there is no way to seal the cervix/vagina to keep the semen in place for as long as possible which is done in a surgical implant and the procedure I described in the post above. I have used Kent Law and have used ICSB. They both feel that surgical is better than TCI, but there is the increased risk due to surgery. In the case of very poor semen the closer the deposit the better the results should be. Not trying to stir the pot or convince anyone to use this but only that there is another way to get it done that is safe and can be done almost anywhere. 7 out of 8 is 88% which is close to both TCI and SI's success rates but is way to few to establish a true rate. You should always get the motility numbers on semen before committing to using it and have a plan B as well on standby in case upon thawing it is not acceptable.

Angie: I failed to elaborate on that. You are correct that the TCI places the semen in the uterus but it does so blindly as the rigid endoscope does not enter the uterus. The catheter does but does not place the semen in each uterine horn at the oviducts. If the semen is of poor quality it may not reach the ends of both uterine horns in its short 12 hour approx. life which can result in a smaller litter or no litter. Kent Law has done over 10,000 surgical implants and rarely does TCI's as he gets better results and larger litters with surgical implants placed precisely where needed. Also in a TCI there is no way to seal the cervix/vagina to keep the semen in place for as long as possible which is done in a surgical implant and the procedure I described in the post above. I have used Kent Law and have used ICSB. They both feel that surgical is better than TCI, but there is the increased risk due to surgery. In the case of very poor semen the closer the deposit the better the results should be. Not trying to stir the pot or convince anyone to use this but only that there is another way to get it done that is safe and can be done almost anywhere. 7 out of 8 is 88% which is close to both TCI and SI's success rates but is way to few to establish a true rate. You should always get the motility numbers on semen before committing to using it and have a plan B as well on standby in case upon thawing it is not acceptable.

Just had this done side by side - semen collected from male (could not get a natural tie, maiden bitch, no swelling, etc) semen inserted through a scope, cuff inflated to simulate the natural tie, etc. Repro vet in Westmont, IL. The owner of the female and I both watched the insemination on camera.

I do want to see data when it becomes available. I have some frozen semen to use and if I could use it without a surgical....and still get good size litters....I have a year or two before I will be using it, so maybe by then they'll have more accurate data.

According to the research I have done (I'll try to find some references for you), the best possible way for a pregnancy to occur using frozen, thawed semen is still surgical AI. The procedure takes a very short period of time and isn't very invasive due to the tiny stab incision used and the fact that an incision isn't used for the uterine horns themselves (a hypodermic needle or small gauge IV catheter is used to inject the freshly thawed sample directly into the uterine horns, each of which can usually only accomodate 0.5-1 ml of semen), while allowing the surgeon to evaluate for uterine cysts, etc. Minimal tissue handling, minimal pain, and minimal recovery time post-op. It also allows the frozen semen to bathe the ripe (ready to fertilize) eggs right there at the site of fertiliation, fully utilizing the critical timing since frozen, thawed semen has such a short life expectancy (12-24 hrs) and doesn't like to have to swim far.

In speaking with a veterinarian friend in Holland who does repro work including freezing semen, he says their pregnancy rates using TCI are still nowhere near where they would hope. They are getting far more misses using any other technique with frozen than actual pregnancies. In fact, since surgical AI is not legal in Holland (where the most they can do is a TCI) but is elsewhere, they actually recommend the frozen semen gets packaged up and the bitch owner takes it and the bitch to Germancy to get a surgical done for best results.

Edited to add:
Just found on VIN (Vet Info Network) that most reports coming from the repro specialists are about 90% success rates with surgical vs. 70% with TCI using frozen semen, and litter sizes tend to be much larger using frozen vs. TCI as well.

Last edited by Montview; 01-14-2013 at 12:14 AM.
Reason: Found info for success rates

Just had this done side by side - semen collected from male (could not get a natural tie, maiden bitch, no swelling, etc) semen inserted through a scope, cuff inflated to simulate the natural tie, etc. Repro vet in Westmont, IL. The owner of the female and I both watched the insemination on camera.

TCI is considered to be the best for fresh semen AI, though most of the time, pregnancies will still occur with regular vaginal AI. Fresh semen lives for days in the reproductive tract of the bitch being bred, rather than a matter of hours such as with frozen and thawed semen.

Best of luck with that breeding! If timed correctly, no doubt you will have a nice healthy litter soon!